New Amsterdam Singers Presents O MAGNUM MYSTERIUM: RENAISSANCE AND CONTEMPORARY MEDITATIONS OF THE SEASON, 12/16

The New Amsterdam Singers, led by music director Clara Longstreth, will present O Magnum Mysterium: Renaissance and Contemporary Meditations on the Season, a program of mostly a cappella sacred choral music, including works by Tomás Luis de Victoria, Jacob Handl, William Byrd, J.S. Bach, and contemporary composers Abbie Betinis, Stephen Paulus, Eric Whitacre, and Morten Lauridsen. The concerts will take place Friday, December 16, 2016, at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, December 18, 2016, at 4:00 p.m., at Advent Lutheran Church, Broadway and 93rd Street.

Featured on the program are three of the most popular and well known musical settings of the text O Magnum Mysterium, ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century. Opening the concert is Missa O Magnum Mysterium for a cappella chorus by the famous Spanish composer and organist Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611). This work is known as a "parody mass" as it was based on a pre-existing composition - in this case, Victoria's beloved motet of the same name, which will conclude the concert. The Victoria motet will follow another celebrated work on the same text by Morten Lauridsen (b.1943). Three works by another Renaissance composer, Jacob Handl (1550-91), including his boldly chromatic Mirabile Mysterium, will also be performed.

The lighter side of Christmas music will be demonstrated by folk-based songs on arrangements by contemporary American composers Stephen Paulus, Parker and Shaw, and Shawn Kirchner.

Abbie Betinis has chosen a poem from 1914 by Grace Fallow Norton for The Mirthful Heart (2012) for women's voices and hand drum, presented in its New York premiere. Daniel Pinkham chose texts that reflect a thoughtful approach to the season in Christmas Eve on a poem by Robert Hillyer that asks the listener to reflect on "the homeless and the lost" in December's bitter cold. Pinkham's psalm setting, Thou hast turned my laments into dancing, features exuberant compound rhythms.

New Amsterdam Singers

The New Amsterdam Singers was founded in 1968 by Clara Longstreth. A recent issue of The New Yorker called Ms. Longstreth "one of the more imaginative choral programmers around" and the New Amsterdam Singers "a superb amateur group." The New York Times described the chorus's June 2012 concert as "a varied and beautifully performed a cappella program." NAS has performed with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein; American Russian Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and at Tanglewood's Ozawa Hall under Leon Botstein; Concordia Orchestra and Anonymous Four in Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light with Marin Alsop at Avery Fisher Hall; and with the Limon Dance Company in Kodály's Missa Brevis. In 2010, the chorus sang concerts in Cuba and at a Holiday Open House at the White House. In 2013, NAS toured South Africa, and in 2015, Greece.

For further information call (914) 712-8708 or go online to www.nasingers.org. Tickets are available at the door for $25, $15 for seniors and $10 for students. Tickets are also available online in advance for $20 at www.nasingers.org, by phone at (914) 712-8708, or by mail (New Amsterdam Singers, P.O. Box 373, Cathedral Station, New York, NY 10025).

New Amsterdam Singers

O Magnum Mysterium: Renaissance and Contemporary Meditations on the Season

Friday, December 16, 2016, at 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, December 18, 2016, at 4:00 p.m.

Advent Lutheran Church

Broadway and 93rd Street

Program to Include:

Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) Missa O Magnum Mysterium

Jacob Handl (1550-1591) Pueri, concinite

William Byrd (1539-1623) Sacerdotes Domini

Abbie Betinis (b.1980) The Mirthful Heart

Stephen Paulus (1949-2014) Halelu!

Trad. Spanish, arr. Parker and Shaw La virgen lava pañales

Arr. Shawn Kirchner (b.1970) Brightest and Best (Southern Harmony)

J.S. Bach (1685-1750) O Jesulein Süss

Jacob Handl Mirabile Mysterium; Resonet in Laudibus

Eric Whitacre (b.1970) Lux Aurumque

Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006) Christmas Eve; Thou hast turned my laments into dancing

Morten Lauridsen (b.1943) O Magnum Mysterium

Tomás Luis de Victoria O Magnum Mysterium